I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
William Wordsworth, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
William Wordsworth in “I wandered lonely as a Cloud” celebrates the power of nature, which is pictured as a healing balm. He is filled with joy at the sight of what he observes.
Discussion Question: How does the poem reflect the speaker’s spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings?
Sample Solution
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is one of the most famous and best-loved poems written in the English language. It was composed by Romantic poet William Wordsworth around 1804, though he subsequently revised it—the final and most familiar version of the poem was published in 1815. The poem is based on one of Wordsworth’s own walks in the countryside of England’s Lake District. During this walk, he and his sister encountered a long strip of daffodils. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is a quintessentially Romantic poem, bringing together key ideas about imagination, humanity and the natural world. The poem itself is a memory, focused on bringing the speaker’s experience of seeing daffodils back to life on the page through the concentrated power of the imagination.
